15 Easy Ways To Eat Whole Grains Every Day

Want to enjoy the health benefits of whole grains but can’t get on board with baking bread every day? I’ve got 15+ tips (and lots of recipes) to help you work freshly milled whole grains into your everyday diet with a fraction of the effort required for baking yeast bread!

When it comes to eating whole grains, the first thing we think of is yeast bread.

Crusty loaves of artisan yeast or sourdough breads made with stone ground grain and baked to perfection… yum! 

However, yeast breads can feel intimidating for the average home cook who has 832 other things to do each day. Plus, yeast breads often are the hardest to “master” when baking with freshly milled whole grains (yes, I know from experience!)

Staying on top of mixing, rising, and baking yeast bread (or sourdough bread) can require a decent amount of mental and physical energy — plus, you’ll need to be home throughout the day to do all the steps at the right times.

But don’t worry, there are many ways to enjoy the health benefits of freshly milled whole grains without being a slave to sourdough… keep reading for more 15+ ideas!

Why Freshly Milled Whole Grains?

I’m not an expert nutritionist, but I’ve done enough research to know that true whole grain flour (with the bran, the germ, and the endosperm) loses the vast majority of its nutrients within 48 hours. So if you’re buying “whole grain” flour from the store, you’re not actually getting many (if any) of the nutrients.

There’s also a pretty good chance your flour will be dense and possibly even rancid because of the extra oils in the flour.

If you have more questions about whole grain flour, I’d highly recommend The Essentials Home Ground Flour book by Sue Becker.

I purchased this book when I switched to milling my own grains back in 2019, and it has been so helpful!

Of course, there was a bit of a learning curve in the beginning, but I can honestly say it is easy to incorporate whole grains into nearly every meal, every day (especially with the simple ideas I share below!)

1. Hot Cereal

I’m a huge fan of hot cereal in the mornings — oatmeal, cream of wheat, polenta, 7 grain cereal, etc. — and I love how easy it is to prepare.

Oats are, hands-down, the easiest, most cost-effective way to cook and bake with whole grains because they are readily available at every grocery store and they don’t need to be milled to enjoy.  

If you have a grain mill at home, I can testify that Cream of Wheat made with home-ground Spelt berries and served with cream and maple syrup is practically like eating dessert for breakfast!

Related Recipes:

• Homemade Oatmeal (or 7-grain cereal)
• Overnight Baked Oatmeal
• Slow Cooker Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal
• Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets

2. Granola

Granola is another super-easy way to enjoy the health benefits of whole grains — either as a topping for yogurt or just in a bowl with milk.

Kids seem to enjoy homemade granola (and granola bars) too — mine even take it in their school lunches with yogurt and fresh berries.

Related Recipes: 

• Homemade Granola
• Homemade Granola Bars
• Homemade Yogurt Parfaits (with granola)

3. Pancakes & Waffles

Pancakes and waffles are a great introduction to baking with freshly milled whole grain flour because they are very forgiving, and they always taste great with a bit of butter and maple syrup.

The flavors of the whole grain are so complex, too… once you get used to the taste, any pancakes made with all-purpose flour will taste like cardboard!

Related Recipes: 

Note: these recipes aren’t all rewritten with freshly milled whole grains, but they can all be substituted easily.

• Whole Grain Oat Pancakes
• Sourdough Discard Pancakes
• Baked Puff Pancakes
• Light and Fluffy Waffles
• Make-Ahead Belgian Waffles

4. Cookies 

Cookies can be a bit trickier because you often need more whole grain flour than what traditional recipes call for (otherwise your cookies turn out flat).

For most of my cookies, I use half oats and half freshly milled flour. If the cookies don’t have oats, I usually use 50% whole grain and 50% all-purpose flour.

They aren’t a “health food”, but they are more nutritious with freshly milled grains.

Related Recipes:

• Monster Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Spiced Molasses Cookies
• Cookie Crumb Truffles (an excellent way to use any “failed” attempts at whole grain cookies!) 

5. Brownies & Bars

I’ve always been a fan of “oat bars” — either homemade granola bars or oatmeal brownies… however, it’s surprisingly easy to “hide” whole grain flour in many of your favorite brownies and bars! 

Related Recipes:

• Homemade Granola Bars
• Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
• Oatmeal Caramel Bars
• Oatmeal M&M Bars
• Blondie Bars

6. Cake

Baking with freshly milled whole grains won’t give you a super light and fluffy cake, so don’t try this for your next Funfetti unicorn birthday cake! 

However, I’ve had tons of success swapping whole grain flour for 50% of the all purpose flour called for in any of my more “dense” cakes! I’ve even tried a few with 100% whole grain (modifying other ingredients) and the results are delicious!

Related Recipes:

• Apple Cake
• Almond Pound Cake
• Banana Cake
• Cake balls (a great way to use up “failed” attempts at whole grain cakes!) 

7. Pies, Cobblers, and Crisps

If you’re the type to make your own pie crust, I’d encourage you to give it a try with freshly milled whole grains. It’s not difficult and it adds a lot of flavor (although whole grain crusts aren’t as flaky!)

If you’re not a pie person, cobblers and crisps are an excellent (and easy) way to incorporate a few ounces of whole grains into a delicious dessert.

Simply use whole grain flours (any variety) and oats to make crunchy, crispy, and/or chewy toppings for your in-season fruit (with a healthy dose of sugar!) 

Related Recipes

• Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie
• Apple Crisp
• Blueberry Buckle
• Black Bottom Pie
• Blueberry Peach Pie
• Bumbleberry Pie
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie
• Dutch Apple Pie
• Peach Almond Crisp
• Strawberry Pie {or any berry pie}
• Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

8. Tortillas

After sharing about the yummy bake-at-home tortillas I found at Costco, I have been encouraged and inspired to try making whole grain tortillas (here’s a great recipe). 

They are significantly faster and easier than yeast breads, but I definitely don’t make homemade tortillas all that often (because it’s just so easy to buy them at the store!)

Related Recipes:

• Breakfast Burritos
• Chipotle Pulled Pork Enchiladas
• Wet Burritos
• Cheesy Chicken Ranch Wraps
• Taco Pie
• Quesadillas 

9. Quick breads and muffins

If you have a favorite quick bread or muffin recipe, you can almost effortlessly transform it into a whole-grain baked good by simply swapping 50% of the flour for whole-grain flour. 

However, in my experience, quick bread and muffins are some of the easiest recipes to swap 100% whole grain flour as they usually have lots of fat, sugar, and dairy to keep the batter moist and tender. 

Related Recipes: 

• Whole Grain Banana Bread
• Chocolate Banana Bread
• Apple Zucchini Bread
• Cinnamon Bread
• Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Bread
• Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
• Rhubarb Muffins
• Cornbread (this recipe uses a boxed mix, but I now use home-ground cornmeal and home-ground whole grain flour!)

10. Casseroles

Many of our family’s favorite casseroles use white rice (which the kids love). However, I often swap quinoa, wild rice, or another pre-cooked whole grain for the rice, and no one complains. 

The nice thing with these swaps is that you really don’t need to make any other changes to the recipes — just add in already cooked quinoa, barley, Kamut, Farro, etc.

My kids rarely even notice the difference!  

Related Recipes: 

• Chicken and Wild Rice Stew
• Mexican Rice Casserole
• Chicken, Broccoli Rice Casserole 
• Tatertot Casserole

11. Soups and Stews

I’ve successfully swapped whole grains in for the rice and pasta in many of our favorite soups and stews. 

Similar to the casseroles I mentioned above, I rarely have to make many other changes to the recipe — just add in the grains instead of rice.

If your recipe calls for COOKED rice, you’ll want to add already cooked grains. If not, you can just dump the uncooked grains into the broth and simmer along with everything else. SO easy! 

Related Recipes: 

• Beef and Barley Stew
• Chicken Noodle Soup (I use wild rice, Kamut, or Farro instead of the noodles)
• Chicken and Wild Rice Stew
• Vegetable Beef Soup (I add Farro instead of rice)
• Here are all my other soup recipes.

12. Sauces and Gravies

Instead of thickening your sauces, gravies, soups, stews, or casseroles with all-purpose flour, swap in some freshly milled whole grain flour with almost no difference.

This is SO simple to do and provides extra nutrients and fiber for the meal!!

13. Mixed into Meat

Have you ever used cooked oats, cooked whole grains, or cooked quinoa to add moisture to your meatloaf, meatballs, sausage balls, etc?

There’s not much of a taste to these whole grain additions, but there are lots of added nutrients — and it helps to stretch your meat a bit further, making the meal more frugal!

Related Recipes: 

• Cheesy Quinoa Sausage Balls
• Basic Meatloaf
• Easy Meatballs

14. On Salads

If you’ve never tried cooking actual wheat berries before, you might think this sounds very odd. However, cooked (and cooled) wheat berries are quite tasty on salads! 

I’ve also started adding cooked (and cooled) quinoa, barley, amaranth, and Farro to several of my favorite salads (often mixed with roasted vegetables).

I cook a bunch of grains at one time, divide them up into freezer containers, and always keep at least 1 or 2 varieties in the fridge for quick, nutritious additions to whatever salad I’m making for lunch. 

Related Recipes: 

• Loaded Kale Salad
• Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad
• Here are all my other salad recipes (not necessarily with whole grains though)

15. Pizza Crusts and/or Stromboli

I realize pizza crust contains yeast; however, it’s much more forgiving than baking bread because you don’t need to worry about getting that perfect final rise or creating a light and fluffy loaf for PB&J sandwiches.

Instead, you can get by with one rise, and a denser, crispy crust is actually desirable as a base for all those delicious pizza toppings and cheese. 

In my experience, it’s MUCH more difficult to mess up a pizza crust then it is a loaf of bread! 

Related Recipes: 

• Stromboli (previously made with frozen bread dough, now I make the dough myself)
• Stromboli Bites
• Personal Pan Pizzas

Helpful Tools

Obviously, I don’t expect everyone to be as interested in cooking and baking with whole grains, but if the idea of making delicious foods with your own freshly milled flour is intriguing for you, here are a few tools that will make it easier!

Grain Mill — there are many to choose from, I went with the Nutrimil Harvest because it looks great on my counter!

Kitchen Scale — every kitchen should have a scale, but it’s essential for cooking/baking with whole grains because you measure by weight most of the time.

Food-Grade Storage Buckets — I store all my bulk grain in the basement in food-grade storage tubs with gamma lids (the gamma lids make opening them SO much easier).

Large Jars that fit in your cabinet — I use half-gallon mason jars to store the grain I cook with each day. They fit nicely in my kitchen cabinets and make it easy to see when supplies are getting low.

Although I might not always make the time to bake whole grain yeast breads each day, I CAN fairly easily incorporate healthy whole grains into almost every meal my family eats… and you can too!

What are your favorite ways to incorporate whole grains into the foods you already eat?